


Broken

by darkesky



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Imprisonment, Possession, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 16:37:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18720907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkesky/pseuds/darkesky
Summary: If not for the fluttering breaths his chest heaved, he would have guessed his brother was dead. Ryoma struggled to find his voice, weakly calling out. “Takumi… Brother, I need you to respond.”His younger brother stirred slightly, mumbling incoherently under his breath. Ryoma still remembered the fire he possessed the moment they were tossed into this cell. He spat with venom about how no ninja could keep them captive. He promised his two retainers would come back and raise hell.---The real reason Ryoma and Takumi were absent during Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright





	Broken

**Author's Note:**

> This is somewhat of a test drive. I have a fic planned involving ALL of the royals in Fates, but I only really feel comfortable about the Nohrian royals. (and in general, any Nohrians. Oboro? Pfffft. Selena? I could write a whole NOVEL about her.) So, I hope the characterization is somewhat decent haha

Once upon a time, when Ryoma barely stood at Mikoto’s shoulders, he made his mother a promise. His first allegiance was to Hoshido, but his second would always be his siblings. He saw the way they mourned the loss of Corrin. He saw the way Hinoka isolated herself, desperately training to be better. He saw the way Takumi suffered in silence, missing a sibling but feeling weak because of it. He saw the way Sakura was brought to tears by the slightest reminder of it.

Staring at Takumi, he couldn’t help but feel he had failed. His younger brother was strung up before him, his toes barely grazing the ground. His wrists stayed above his head, the rusted manacles digging into his fragile skin. The slightest movement broke them open, and a thin river of blood already trickled down his arms. Red collected at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes stayed at half-mast, unseeing. If not for the fluttering breaths his chest heaved, he would have guessed his brother was dead.

He struggled to find his voice, weakly calling out. “Takumi… Brother, I  _ need  _ you to respond.”

His younger brother stirred slightly, mumbling incoherently under his breath. Ryoma still remembered the fire he possessed the moment they were tossed into this cell. He spat with venom about how no ninja could keep them captive. He promised his two retainers would come back and raise hell. 

Ryoma never thought highly of Hinata and Oboro, no matter how badly that reflected on him. He naturally assumed they just… Couldn’t hold up to the same standards. None of his siblings had gotten particularly vigilant retainers. Not in comparison to his own. Saizo and Kagero knew exactly what they were doing, and they had their duties down in a way he hadn’t anticipated.

Clearing his throat, he struggled to speak louder. Any louder might alert that bastard, Kotaro, to their consciousness. He had tried to torture information out of Ryoma, and when that failed, he got to work on Takumi. He thought Ryoma would crack upon seeing his little brother suffer. 

He almost had. But revealing the location of his  _ own  _ retainers would lead to their death. Kotaro had some sort of idea of purity, desperately striving to make sure all ninjas worked under him. The fact Kagero, arguably better known than Saizo, was working for Ryoma got under his skin. He had confessed. While he would have no resistance upon killing Saizo  _ or  _ Kaze, Kagero would sit in the cell and rot until she pledged her allegiance.

She never would. 

“Takumi,  _ please.  _ Open your eyes.”

After a few seconds, Takumi blinked. When his eyes opened again, a light had entered them. His brown eyes remained hazy and unfocused, but this time, he saw with them. They got caught over his shoulder before threatening to roll back in his head once more. “R-Ryoma?”

“I’m here,” he promised. 

His words fell, broken, from his bloodied lips. “Wha’ happened?”

“It’s hard to explain, exactly. We were en route to another battle, but we got captured by Kotaro. He was most interested in Kagero and Saizo, but Saizo managed to slip away. He said he would use us as bargaining pieces.” The fury rose in Ryoma as he spoke the words. They had no reason to be here. To be used as  _ bait,  _ to be used as a way to get to his retainers… He would have never imagined this fate. Who could care so greatly for purity that they’d place its importance over all else?

Takumi hummed, disconnected. His head lolled upon his shoulder. “Hin… Hinata? Oboro?”

“Your retainers are fine.” The words were empty. He had no idea where the two managed to escape to…  _ If  _ they managed to escape. If they hadn’t, he couldn’t imagine Katero was generous enough to spare their lives. They would have gone down with a magnificent fight, though. He knew the two of them wielded their weapons adeptly, even if they were a little unprofessional.

The knowledge didn’t seem to put him at ease yet. “Sakura?”

“Both of our sisters are fine.” Ryoma hesitated. “Corrin is fine as well.”

Takumi flinched upon hearing their name. He never understood the way the longing for Corrin flourished into a deep-seated hatred. Whenever he tried to speak with Takumi about it, his brother denied it. Yet, you’d have to be a fool to see anything else. Beyond that, his younger brother was the only one who treated Corrin so harshly upon their glorious return to Hoshido. 

He still remembered when Corrin accidentally called him Leo. Takumi completely stiffened before storming off. Ryoma would have sought him out but… But he wanted to spend time with his newly returned sibling. He feared that if he left Corrin alone, they wouldn’t feel any sort of connection with him. Maybe, ultimately, that was what lead to this divide between them. Ryoma never thought he cast a big shadow but…

Ryoma glanced down and sighed. “If I was Sakura, I could heal you.”

“She… She shouldn’t be here,” Takumi argued weakly.

He let out a soft laugh. “I suppose so. If Sakura was the one in this cell… My heart would have broken a million times over.”

Takumi fell silent for a long moment. For a second, he thought he must have fallen back unconscious. If he had, Ryoma had no idea how he could have handled that. Any silence felt like death in Takumi’s state. Then, his brother’s voice came out, surprisingly whole but terrified. “Would you rather one of them here instead of me?”

“Takumi, I’d rather  _ none  _ of us here.” Ryoma couldn’t connect the dots. He didn’t know what Takumi wanted him to say here. He  _ knew…  _ Well, he thought he understood Takumi’s constant comparisons with their siblings. 

Just as his brother went to say something, an explosive rocked the foundations. He curled up on himself, and Ryoma strained to see what was going on. Out of the dust walked a figure, bold and fearless. The dim lighting struck at her red armor, making her glow even more. She weld a large axe, hand comfortably gripped on it. 

Her voice rang out, and he could tell this would be his savior. “Stand back. I don’t have a less, uh,  _ destructive  _ way of saving you here.”

“We can’t move much.” Ryoma offered a thin smile. She shrugged before hefting her axe up and swinging it against the wall. The crunch of metal was enough to make Takumi whimper while Ryoma just stared at their savior in shock. Slowly, the metal gave, and she kicked open the cell. 

Then, the blonde nodded down at Ryoma’s chains. “Give me a good angle. Don’t want to chop off your wrists. Imagine how bad that’d go!”

“Here.” Ryoma shifted, and she immediately swung her axe again. The chains gave instantly, and Ryoma climbed to his feet. Stretching, he ignored the soreness from sitting uncomfortably in his armor. Then, he cleared his throat. “Do you have a smaller blade? I imagine an axe wouldn’t go over well with my younger brother now.”

“Sorry.” She shrugged, but she handed over her axe. “I’m Scarlet.”

“Ryoma,” he offered absently. He didn’t wait to calm down his brother. Instead, he neatly sliced the chains and caught him as he slumped into him. Takumi made small protests before giving in. 

She paused. “Like the royal family?”

“Something like that. Why are you invading these facilities? I can’t imagine it’s just to save the prisoners.”  _ Especially  _ if Scarlet was unable to identify either of them as members of the royal family. Then again, this far out from the capital, he couldn’t exactly blame her for that. Usually, the people who recognized them easily lived in close proximity.

Scarlet winced. “There’s a revolt going on back home. Cheve needed more people to fight on their side, and I hoped I could find some strong fighters here.”

“My brother and I would be happy to help you out.”

Surprisingly, Takumi pushed away from him at that moment, wobbling on his feet. “No.”

“No?” Scarlet asked, astonished.

His younger brother repeated the word before clearing his throat. “Give me a vulnerary, and I’ll head back home. I don’t… I’m not here to stop a revolt. I just want to get back to… To them.”

“I can do you one better, little buddy.” Their savior ignored the way Takumi bristled at the term. She passed over a concoction and nodded at Ryoma. “You still game?”

“I suppose… Let us just go grab our weapons, and…” He hesitated. Should they try and cut down Katero? No, he supposed they shouldn’t. Time was of the essence, and in the end, he was certain it would be a bigger fight than imagined. They managed to best them once. Sure, it was with a surprise attack and with double the amount of troops, but it was enough to put Ryoma off fighting until he had  _ more  _ people on his side. 

Takumi smiled weakly. “I’ll be fine.”

-

It was later, after Ryoma and Scarlet parted ways, that Takumi started dwelling on what happened. It wasn’t as good as healing magic, but the concoction revived much of his strength. Most of what happened in the cell were blurry fragments. Some details, though, stood out in outstanding details. 

Ryoma had watched, almost passively, as Takumi tortured. He must have thought he was weak for not being able to sustain it. He must have thought Takumi couldn’t cope. He must have thought Takumi wasn’t a very good prince today. 

_ He would have prefered Corrin there. _

Each step only fueled his loathing. Who it was directed at, though, was up in the air. Was it Ryoma? Corrin? Katero?  _ Himself? _

Takumi barely noticed when the purple magic started to spread about him, seeping beneath his skin. Then, his thoughts began to trickle out as a pounding headache replaced it. With it came a single word.

_ Die. _

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you can't tell, I really shipped Ryoma and Scarlet during Birthright/Revelations, and then they killed her so oops. I'm still salty about that.


End file.
